alt Hacker NewsNot enough to be a deterrent. Until now NATO implicitly relied on the USA as their deterrent. That seems to no longer be a smart thing to do.
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ceejayoz • yesterday at 5:35 PM
France kicked the US military out of France in 1966 and left NATO's military command structure.
They largely rejoined in 2009 (and very deliberately never rejoined NATO's Nuclear Planning Group), but if any NATO member is capable of going it alone on this one, it's probably France.
240 nukes on subs is plenty to wave around as a stick, too.
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carlosjobim • yesterday at 5:35 PM
One is enough. Two were enough the last time they were used in war, and those were much smaller than current weapons.
> Not enough to be a deterrent
Even if American defences stopped 80% of them, estimates say France has enough (290*(1-0.8)=58) to destroy every state capital.
Is more really necessary, if the goal is simply to deter?